Psalms 95:9-11

95:9 where your ancestors challenged my authority, ¹ 

and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work.

95:10 For forty years I was continually disgusted ²  with that generation,

and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; ³ 

they do not obey my commands.’ ⁴ 

95:11 So I made a vow in my anger,

‘They will never enter into the resting place I had set aside for them.’” ⁵ 

[95:9]  ¹ tn Heb “where your fathers tested me.”

[95:10]  ² tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite or an imperfect. If the latter, it emphasizes the ongoing nature of the condition in the past. The translation reflects this interpretation of the verbal form.

[95:10]  ³ tn Heb “a people, wanderers of heart [are] they.”

[95:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they do not know my ways.” In this context the Lord’s “ways” are his commands, viewed as a pathway from which his people, likened to wayward sheep (see v. 7), wander.

[95:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “my resting place.” The promised land of Canaan is here viewed metaphorically as a place of rest for God’s people, who are compared to sheep (see v. 7).